Youghiogheny River
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| Youghiogheny River | |
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 Ohiopyle Falls along the Youghiogheny
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| Country | United States |
| States | Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia |
| Counties | Allegheny, PA, Westmoreland, PA, Fayette, PA, Somerset, PA, Garrett, MD, Preston, WV |
| Major cities | McKeesport, PA, Connellsville, PA |
| Length | 122 mi (196 km) [1] |
| Watershed | 1,715 sq mi (4,442 km²) [2] |
| Discharge at | Sutersville, PA |
| - average | 3,477 cu ft/s (98 m³/s) [3][2] |
| - maximum | 35,500 cu ft/s (1,005 m³/s) |
| - minimum | 717 cu ft/s (20 m³/s) |
| Discharge elsewhere | |
| - Oakland, MD | 329 cu ft/s (9 m³/s) [4] |
| Source | Silver Lake |
| - coordinates | |
| - elevation | 2,500 ft (762 m) |
| Mouth | Monongahela River |
| - location | McKeesport, Allegheny County, PA |
| - coordinates | |
| - elevation | 718 ft (219 m) [1] |
| Major tributaries | |
| - right | Casselman River |
 Map of the Monongahela River basin, with the Youghiogheny River highlighted.
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The Youghiogheny River (pronounced yah-kuh-GAIN-ee[5] IPA: /ˌjɒkəˈgeɪni/; occasionally yok-uh-HAY-nee[6] /ˌjɒkəˈheɪni/) , or the Yough River (pronounced yok /ˈjɒk/) for short, is a tributary of the Monongahela River, approximately 122 mi (195 km)[1] long, in the U.S. states of West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. It drains an area on the west side of the Allegheny Mountains northward into Pennsylvania, providing the drainage for extreme western Maryland in the watershed of the Mississippi River.
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[edit] Geography
The Youghiogheny rises in northern West Virginia, in Preston County southeast of Kingwood and near Backbone Mountain. The headwaters are approximately 10 mi (16 km) north of the headwaters of the North Branch of the Potomac River. It flows NNE into Garrett County, Maryland, flowing north past Oakland and roughly parallel to the West Virginia border, separated by approximately 3 mi (5 km). It enters southwestern Pennsylvania on the border between Fayette and Somerset counties. It flows northwest through a gap in Chestnut Ridge and then past Connellsville. It joins the Monongahela from the southeast at McKeesport, southeast of Pittsburgh.
Upstream from Confluence, Pennsylvania, approximately 6 mi (10 km) north of Pennsylvania border, the river is impounded by the 184 ft (56 m) high Youghiogheny Dam to form the Youghiogheny River Lake, a reservoir that stretches upstream into northern Maryland. The dam was completed in 1944 primarily for flood control.
[edit] History
In the colonial era and in the early United States, the valley of the river provided an important route of access through the mountains for settlers and military forces from Virginia to the Ohio Country of Western Pennsylvania. In 1754, as a militia officer of the British colony of Virginia, George Washington followed the river in an attempt to find a water route to Fort Duquesne, then held by the French.
A former pioneer fort at Somerset, Pennsylvania was inundated by the building of the Youghiogheny Dam. Perryopolis in northern Fayette County, Pennsylvania is the site of the George Washington Grist Mill. The Youghiogheny River Trail follows the river in southwestern Pennsylvania southeast of Connellsville.
Fallingwater, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, is located in the river valley southeast of Connellsville.
A portion of the river in Maryland has been set aside by the state as Youghiogheny Scenic and Wild River.
[edit] Recreation
The Youghiogheny is popular for whitewater kayaking and rafting. Three sections of the river, varying in difficulty, are available on a predictable basis for whitewater recreation:
- Top Yough, near Swallow Falls State Park (Class IV-V)
- Upper Yough, from Sang Run to Friendsville, Maryland (Class IV-V)
- Lower Yough, which runs through Ohiopyle State Park from Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania to Bruner Run (Class III-IV)
- Middle Yough, from Confluence, Pennsylvania to Ohiopyle (Class II)
- Ohiopyle Falls in Ohiopyle State Park: this spectacular 18-ft waterfall is legal for kayakers and canoeists to run on only one weekend a year (Class IV), during a race and festival.
The Youghiogheny is also known for fishing, having brown and rainbow trout, as well as smallmouth above the power plant discharge.
[edit] Crossings
[edit] See also
- List of Maryland rivers
- List of Pennsylvania rivers
- List of West Virginia rivers
- Meshach Browning (1781-1859), early backwoodsman and explorer of the Youghiogheny country
[edit] Treatment in fiction
The Youghiogheny River was likely the inspiration for the fictional Yuggogheny River, whose valley was used by Michael Chabon for the setting of his short story "In the Black Mill" from the 2000 collection "Werewolves in their Youth". In Chabon's 2000 Pulitzer Prize winning novel "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay", an expert or experts on Yuggogheny cannibal cults are present at the party where Joe Kavalier saves Salvador Dali from drowning.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c USGS GNIS: Youghiogheny River
- ^ a b Based on information from United States Geological Survey (USGS); USGS 03083500 Youghiogheny River at Sutersville, PA retrieved March 17, 2007. Sutersville is several miles upriver from McKeesport and thus the real figure is higher.
- ^ USGS, Table of average annual daily discharges for Youghiogheny River at Sutersville, PA, retrieved March 17, 2007. Figure cited is for 2005, most recent year for which figures are available.
- ^ USGS, Table of average annual daily discharge for Youghiogheny River at Oakland, PA, retrieved March 17, 2007. FFigure cited is for 2005, most recent year for which figures are available.
- ^ Pennsylvania Vacation Travel
- ^ Whitewater rafting on the Lower Youghiogheny River in Pennsylvania
- Palmer, Tim (1984). Youghiogheny: Appalachian River. University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 0822953617.
[edit] External links
- U.S. Geological Survey: PA stream gaging stations
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: Youghiogheny River Lake
- State of Maryland: Youghiogheny Scenic and Wild River
- Youghiogheny River Trail
- Youghiogheny River Trail
- National Whitewater River Inventory: Upper Yough
- National Whitewater River Inventory: Lower Yough
- National Whitewater River Inventory: Middle Yough
- National Whitewater River Inventory: Ohiopyle Falls
- West Virginia Rivers Coalition
- Mouth or other endpoint (Monongahela River, McKeesport) is at coordinates
- Source (Silver Lake) is at coordinates
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